(S01E09) Boy, that George Michael cat is one helluva swell guy, isn't he? Now I'm not sure how many celebrities would feel the need to get involved in a newspaper story, but George got all Oprah and put himself out there for this girl he doesn't even know. As for how he wound up picking Eli to lawyer up and take the case? Would you believe it came to him in a vision? Maybe the case was in the vision, too.

In a way, this episode serves as a closing chapter in the first major arc of the Eli Stone story. Sure, dangling threads keep thrusting us forward, like the unresolved issues regarding Patti's old stomping grounds and the earthquake of ... when was that now? Oh, that's right it hasn't happened yet. But this craziness all started with George Michael appearing to Eli in a vision, so there's a nice symmetry in the real deal serving a significant role as well.

I drew this really weird parallel between Eli Stone and My Name is Earl with this episode. Just as Earl was driven by an unexpected celebrity source, in his case Carson Daly, to change his life for the better and start doing some good in the world, Eli was driven by George Michael. Both men have turned from a path of darkness and started working toward improving the lives of those around them, albeit in incredibly differing manners.

George -- he told me to call him George -- does a good job in this role. I hope they follow-up on this relationship in future episodes, as the strange connection between Eli and George seems to have been cemented tonight; it was a dream, or sleeping vision, that led George to Eli. Maybe George is going to be plagued by visions of Eli giving closing arguments in court or something to help him decide what gigs to take and what songs to sing.

The case itself wasn't nearly as important as what it did to the relationships between Jordan and Eli and what meeting George Michael did for Eli. This was the week where he finally met the doctor who could remove his aneurysm. But were George's parting words to keep on forging ahead referring to the visions? We don't know yet what Eli will do in regards to the aneurysm, but considering the show is a likely pick-up for next year I'm going to guess he won't do much. Do you think when the plug is finally pulled, they'll just have Eli drop dead in the final moment? Or is that too morbid?

A beautifully awkward scene came with Eli's ill-conceived "date" with Beth Keller. Beth was the girl he lost the big "V" to and helped in the first episode. Of course, in his defense, he didn't know she was dating his brother at the time, but the whole scene underscored just how truly and tragically alone Eli feels now in his life. Sure, he has Dr. Chen as a friend/mentor, but he's given up just about everything to follow this new calling. I guess that's about in line with most prophets and men of vision, but it really humanized Eli in a sympathetic way.

VISIONARY MOMENTS, GOOD AND BAD

• When trying to confirm that George Michael was really there, Eli asked another associate if he could see the man standing there. The man could and identified George as Bono. As George responded, he wore the over-sized shades first!
• Jordan quoting "Faith," and then telling George with all his fanboy glister "I believe that was from another song of yours." In fact, Jordan's whole fanboy shtick was hilariously awesome! From Eli's vision at the beginning where Jordan sang George Michael before introducing him to the end when he got to introduce him for real at the concert thrown.
  
• Taylor and Matt decked out in full Sonny & Cher '70s garb for their musical number. While not as good, or seemingly as integral to the plot, as other visions, it was still well done. So now I can see how Matt directly affects Eli, meaning the only one who doesn't is hot-shot new attorney Keith Bennett. Also weird is how this vision seemed to play no significant role in the events of the episode, except that it tried to tell Eli that Matt and Taylor were gonna "tango."
  
• Where were Keith Bennett and Patti this episode? Were they hiding behind a fern conspiring to knock some sense into Eli, or plotting revenge on Jayson Turck? I missed them.
• Patti's temp replacement reading Eli the note she left for him explaining her absence. "I'm taking a personal week to look after my friends and relatives in Silver Terrace, who thanks to you now have NO HOMES!" He even emphasized "NO HOMES" because she'd put it in all caps. So even in her absence, Patti was able to infect a bit of her 'tude into the proceedings. Good for her!
• I liked that Taylor showed some decent moral standards when she learned, unfortunately after she'd slept with him, that Matt lied about his relationship with his father solely to try and win a case. It showed that the growth of Matt from pond-scum lawyer to human being is still ongoing. I think there's a decent chance these two will wind up together.
• The case itself that Taylor and Matt tried wasn't very good in my opinion. The whole case was kind of stupid, and both the son and father were one-dimensional stereotypes of the selfish father (see John Locke's father Anthony Cooper of Lost) while the son was the stereotype of the angry abandoned son. NO surprises in the verdict, but it's hard to buy that either can reconcile.

As for Eli's, the girl got reinstated and George put on that concert to raise funds for a real sex education program at the school. But the real point of that trial was to not only bring George into the fold for real but to start mending the relationship between Eli and Jordan. And giving Jordan a taste of how it feels to be one of the "good guys" adds even more depth to a good character.

With Jordan having a moment like this, and Matt rejected by Taylor because of his lies in the courtroom, it looks like a theme of the series is going to be one of redemption and growth, with "new Eli" inspiring the whole firm to become a better entity. I'm not sure when it happened, but somewhere along the way, Eli Stone grew up as a show, too. I think it's the decreased emphasis on the showy visions and the increase in linear progressive storylines, but this is becoming a really enjoyable hour of television.

Even the previews for next week had me pretty excited as it looks like Eli is going to go all Dr. Sam Beckett and "inhabit" his brother's body for his next set of visions. To make it perfect, they need to find a way to sneak in a Scott Bakula or Dean Stockwell cameo.